Should You Hire a Housecleaner?

I’m really into the idea of “life optimization” lately, meaning I’m always looking for ways to do things better, faster, and most efficiently. “Mom Hacks,” if you will.

A while back I heard a speaker mention the idea of work-at-home moms hiring a house cleaner. He said we should price out the cost of having someone else clean our home, and see if it made sense- that is, if we could make more money by having that task out of our hands and that time freed up.

So I decided to do just that! I’ll share the experience I’ve had so far, so you too can decide if you should hire a house cleaner.

Finding a House Cleaner

I had never had someone else clean my house before, so I didn’t really know what to expect. So I hit the internet and started looking at websites and reading Yelp reviews of some of the companies in my area. I narrowed it down to a company that had consistently good reviews and was based out of my very own town (no extra travel cost here)!

The Cost

The cost of the service was based on the size of my house, which at about 1400 square feet was $125 for the initial visit and $70 for each monthly visit after that. I really didn’t know what the pricing would be, but that was a little less than what I had guessed, so I was happy! Obviously the cost would be steeper, the larger your home. For me, $70 per month sounded like a fair deal.

Cleaning Day

They said they would send two cleaners for two and a half hours, for the first cleaning, and then two cleaners for an hour and a half for subsequent cleanings, and at their scheduled date and time, they showed up!

It was two girls about my age who came to clean, and they brought in all of their supplies and got started right away, with one of them vigorously wiping clean the blinds that I’ve, um, maybe cleaned once in three years? Don’t ask me about the ceiling fans…

I didn’t want to get in their way, so I left with my little ones, and when we came back a little over two hours later, they were just finishing. I paid them in the driveway and then went inside, excited to see what I would find.

The Results

I walked through the house, checking out the work they had done, and assessing if it was what I expected and if I was happy with it. I was definitely impressed with some of the detail work that they had done. The bathrooms were spotless, the rugs were vacuumed, and the floors were mopped. The ceiling fans, blinds, walls, and baseboards had been cleaned. The trash was taken out. Later on, my husband discovered that they had thoroughly cleaned the microwave. And the house in general smelled fresh and clean!

I didn’t really have any major complaints. I noticed that there were still some crumbs in the very corners of the kitchen floor, which I thought they should have totally obliterated, and though the floors had been mopped, the grout in the tiles still looked like they could use a very specific, in-depth cleaning. But coming home to a clean house felt really great, and overall I was pleased with the results.

Worth it?

So is it worth it to hire a housecleaner? That’s a hard question to answer, because everyone’s situation is different. For me, for now, I will say that yes, I definitely feel it’s a worthy expense!

Here’s why. I would rather work than clean. Eliminating the time I would have spent deep cleaning bathrooms and such, allows me to spend more time on my blog and therefore, make more money. And I still get to have clean bathrooms!

I haven’t done a detailed analysis of exactly how much each second of my time is worth, but I’ve determined generally that it’s worth it for me to pay for my house to be deep cleaned once a month. I still do plenty of cleaning in between their visits, but they come often enough that the deep cleaning has been mostly eliminated for me.

If you think having your house cleaned would relieve you of some stress and allow you to spend more time on the things you enjoy doing, then it couldn’t hurt to give it a try! I doubt I will always use a house cleaning service, but for where I’m at right now, it’s a wonderful luxury that I’m willing to pay for!

It’s day 10 of “Baby Steps to a Better You,” which means we are a third of the way there! Have you been trying the challenges and working toward your goals?

I loved writing today’s post, and I have some more “mom hacks” up my sleeve that I’ll be sharing on other days. The goal to spend more time doing the things you love and less time doing the things that you don’t!

So today I want you to think of a chore you dislike that you can eliminate from your life. Maybe your oldest child is now big enough to take the garbage out. Or maybe you can declutter your room to the point that cleaning up is a non-issue. Maybe you pay the babysitter a bit extra to do the dishes.

Whatever it is that you least enjoy doing, find a way to do it faster, more easily, or outsource the task! Have a great day, and come back tomorrow for the next challenge!